On Sunday 3-1-09 we did a few ice dives on Green Lake. It was Art, Brian, Brad, and I diving. Brad completed his Ice Certification, Art was the instructor, Brian was the assistant, and I was in charge of eating snacks and goofing around. We found a couple anchors, a couple lures, an ice scoop, some boat parts, a full bottle of rum... (uhhhh...full of water...) and a ladies wallet. (more on that later). The shelter worked out extremely well. (10' x 32') The ice was approx 30" thick. The weather was -4 degrees in the morning and warming right up to 15 degrees as the day went on. Water temp was 38 degrees and the visibility was 13' or so. Here are some pics of the shelter:
Here are a couple photos of what we found. The first one is of the usual type of finds: anchors, ropes filled with lures and hooks, a screwdriver. an air scoop/vent from a boat, and an ice scoop. The second is of the ladies wallet. The wallet was actually a cigarette case with a crusty lighter. Inside the first zippered portion was a Drivers License, two credit cards, an insurance card and at least a five dollar bill (maybe more but the folding money was mushy from being so waterlogged). There was a second zippered pocket that has coins in it. I turned the wallet in to the Isanti County Sheriffs Department so they can contact this woman and give it back to her. She will probably be fairly surprised when she gets the call.
Here are a few pictures of the divers. The first is of Brian. The second one is Brian and Art (I couldn't resist taking this photo). The third one is Brad and Art. The fourth one is me and Art.
you should have had a sharpie for the second pic
Wow, nice shelter. So is it home made or what? Tell us more about that please.
The shelter is Art's (it is litterally a "work of Art"). He made them and has more details. They are two identical 10' x 16" that can be set up separate or mated together. When I said it was 10' x 32', that is the way it was set up. It could be easily stretched to 36' long.
Here are a couple more photos.
One of the things we like to do ta stay warm out there is to stay hydrated and fed. During surface intervals providing divers with hot apple cider and hot soup keeps em ready to do repetitive dives.
John really captured the best TREASURE with his find of the wallet ;D
The shelter is really very simple to set up and quite inexpensive to build. Each module costs about $150 in parts. They also are quite easy to set up and tear down after a day of diving. I must admit that I'm a bit of a wuss about the cold. I LOVE ice diving, but I really love doing it and staying nice and toasty warm. Ask the divers who use the shelter and they will readily admit that one of the challenges is TRULY not overheating when in the shelter....
Here is a REAL SHORT video of of Brad, who completed the training for his ice diver certification this last Sunday.
Sorry I missed it. Looks like fun as always. Good photos 8)
You know some diver from a tropical local will watch the Utube video and think we are absolutely nuts. Shelter works like a million bucks and keeps this Californian toasty warm. Thanks to John - finally someone who was able to catch my best side!